My Halloween Decorations

I've actually had these up since the last Sunday in September, enduring a a very hot day to put them up.  I wanted t get them up by the fist, but with the first being on a Thursday, I decided to start the preceding weekend.  My hands got dirty from crumpling up newspapers to stuff my pumpkin bags and giant spider bags with. The smaller pumpkins I've had for about four years, but the larger pumpkin and the spider I got in August a thrift store run by the local hospital.   

Also acquired from the above-mentioned thrift store is this light decoration.  Unfortunately, it has to rest on the window ledge because I've been unable to get suction cups or anything that could hold it up (just one of those things that slips my mind when I've got other stuff to think about). I have this  in the window near the kitchen table (this window faces the driveway).  Also taped to the window are those little hanging ghosts. I got the idea to tape them to the window because I was too lazy to stuff the head and find places from which to hang them. 

Thoughts on Costumes: Gender Stereotyping

In last Saturday's entry,  I wrote my thoughts on the trend of sexy costumes aimed at women and even young girls, something that has parents riled every year. Though I'm not a parent, I still see stories about this in newspapers and on the Internet.  In that blogpost,  I quoted the following from this news story :

When it comes to Halloween costumes, boys can still be ninjas, doctors and mad scientists. A box of popcorn, even. Men can still be bananas or beer cans. ....

I then stated the following:

I always thought food, beverage, inatimate objects and various humorous costumes were designed for both genders!  A girl I used to work with even came as a banana two years ago, when the above article was written!  Apparently people think that these are now for men only.   But I see no reason for that. All of you women out there who've been bothered by the lack options other than "sexy this-or-that" did you ever consider this: If I went into a store and bough a banana or beer can, would someone tell me I can't wear those because I'm a  woman? Would they tell me to get a  "sexy___" instead?  If I want to do this ever, I will!  If a man can humorously put on a dress, then there is no reason a woman can't wear a beer can costume.  

At least most people believe the tourist costume is a unisex one.  Almost ever site that sells this one has both a man and woman modelling it, with the woman on the left side of the photo:

If you want to make this yourself, it's quite easy. Just get a tropical-print, beige shorts, sandals, a hat and some leis and you're good to go. However, look at this do-it-yourself idea from this site:

The American tourist: Guys loud Hawaii shirt, shorts (if weather permits), Large straw hat. Gals bright loud dress, flats, big sun hat, straw bag. Don't forget to have a camera, and maps hanging out, and that look of being lost. Guys can use a tourist bag, (like you get from travel agents, and gals can use the straw bag for their treats. 

Wait a minute!  I thought girls could wear shorts, too! I've been wearing shorts since I was kid! I actually made this one myself a couple years ago and I used beige shorts, almost like those in the pictures of the store-bought versions.  Stating that girls should wear a tropical-print dress is just one of the stereotypes costumes today seem to be perpetuating.   Pirate costumes for women often have skirts instead of pants--have costume makers forgotten that women wear pants, too????

I thought that costumes representing food, beverages and inatimate objects were supposed to be gender-neutral.  I've been noticing these for sale for a few years now, but it was around that time that the sexy trend began emerging.   But is there really any reason that women can't wear a beer-can costume or a banana? I actually saw a girl (whom I used to work with) wearing a banana one year.   The banana costume shown  from buycostumes.com contains five reviews, four of which were from parents who bought it for their daughters.  

A box of popcorn costume just for boys?  Um, they show a girl modeling this one.

A New York Times article from 2006 stated the following:

“Decades after the second wave of the women’s movement, you would expect more of a gender-neutral range of costumes,” said Adie Nelson, the author of “The Pink Dragon Is Female: Halloween Costumes and Gender Markers,” an analysis of 469 children’s costumes and how they reinforce traditional gender messages that was published in The Psychology of Women Quarterly in 2000.

While researching “Pink Dragon,” Dr. Nelson found that even costumes for little girls were gendered. Boys got to be computers while the girls were cupcakes. Today, there are bride costumes for little girls but one is hard pressed to find groom costumes for little boys. Additionally, Dr. Nelson said, the girls’ costumes are designed in ways that create the semblance of a bust where there is none. “Once they’re older women it’s just a continuation of that same gender trend,” she said.

Again,  why shouldn't an inatimate object like a computer be for girls as well?  Girls use them, too, what are these people thinking?   On the other  hand, a boy in a cupcake costume is likely to get teased.  As for a boy trying to be a groom on Halloween: all grooms wear is a plain old tuxedo--how can you  convince everyone you're supposed to be a groom?  Put on some nerdy glasses with a tuxedo and you might be able to pass yourself off as Bill Gates.  Put on a tux, do your hair right and you can be Pee Wee Herman.  But really, how can you convince everyone you're supposed to be a groom?  

One of the biggest gender stereotypes perpetuated by Halloween costumes are those of the doctor vs. nurse. It's as if costume  makers have forgotten that both professions are held by both men and women.  As this blogger stated:

I thought the whole girl = nurse/boy = doctor thing was so last decade?? Guess not. Not to say there is anything wrong with being a nurse, because there isn't. But to lead girls to believe that they don't have the option to be a doctor and boys to believe that they cannot be a nurse is outdated and damaging. 

Very right!  Almost all of the nurse costumes sold are for women and are of the sexy variety and look nothing like a real-life nurse in gender-neutral scrubs.   Doctor costumes, on the other hand, look like their real-life counterparts, and there's no reason a girl should be allowed to buy and wear one.  Some may just want to do so.  Most boys, on the other  hand, would not want to wear any of the nurse costumes available.  Although this nurse costume looks more like real-life nurse uniform (pictured above),  most likely it made in pink to get men to not want to wear it.  Same with this vet costume for children. It is likely in pink so boys won't want to wear it.  

And here's an interesting  quote about costume stereotypes (the full story is here):

Their costumes reflect the gender stereotypes we and Hollywood have been trying to instill in them at an early age. The girls dress up as princesses and fairies and anything else pretty. We give the boys guns and capes and encourage the machoism out of them. If your girl wants to strut her power she has Catwomen, Supergirl or Violet from the Incredibles to choose from. And your pretty much out of luck if your boy wants to be an angel. 

Good point about angels for boys.  Angels are almost always personified as females.  and girls have plenty of opportunities to be devils, even though many she-devil outfits fall into the racy variety. 

And from this blog:

I hope she answered the "where's the monsters" query with "Apparently Target thinks only men can be monsters -- isn't that stupid?" (referencing this article)

Very stupid indeed!  And another commenter says:

...I'll add that there's no reason this woman (or the kids' dad) couldn't buy her kids a boy's costume -- a monster, or gorilla, or what-have-you. Or even make her kids a costume.

Yeah, there is no reason she couldn't do any of  this!

Se7en

I first saw the movie Se7en  just four days before Halloween in 2007.  I later got the DVD at Best Buy--and it was a good buy indeed. I have a Best Buy membership and was sent a coupon in December 2007. I got $5 off the DVD which was on sale for $8.99; thus getting the DVD for $3.99.  I plan to watch it sometime before Halloween.  The subject of the Seven Deadly Sins is what prompted me to rent this film from Netflix two years ago.  It's one of the few scary movies I've been able to watch--I'm not much for the scary genre.  And this year I've only got one Halloween movie in my Netflix queue--the SpongeBob Halloween DVD.   When I first got Netflix in 2007, I had several Halloween movies in my queue that year and a few more last year around this time.  Can't find any I want to see this year.  

What Does Your Favorite Candy Say About You?

You Are a Zany Trendsetter

You are energetic and full of inspiration. You never slow down, and you're constantly leaving people and ideas behind. You are a true visionary. You are constantly thinking about the future. You love living, and you stay flexible. You're open to going wherever life takes you.

What Does Your Favorite Candy Say About You?

My Thoughts on Sexy Costumes

I don't even know how to begin this post and I'm sure you've seen rants about this topic every year for about five years now, since the sexy costume trend never seems to end.   Well, let me start by saying, why is the only choice for us women? I always wonder about those in extremely cold climates.  I live in California, where the late fall weather can be unpredictable. I can recall a few years ago, it was very hot during the last week of October, then on Halloween, it suddenly got cold.  Right now, they're expecting rain sometime during the coming week. 

Even though I'm not a parent, every year I expect to see articles on how costumes for young girls seems to be following the sexy trend as well, and how parents become angered over this trend. This article from the Washington Post two years ago looks at this trend.   

Gabby Cirenza wanted to be a referee for Halloween. The outfit she liked had a micro-mini black skirt and a form-fitting black and white-striped spandex top held together with black laces running up the flesh-exposing sides. She looked admiringly at the thigh-high black go-go boots that could be bought as an accessory. And she thought the little bunny on the chest was cute.

"Absolutely not," said her mother, Cheryl. "That is so not happening."

Gabby is 11.

Such an awkward age.  Many 11-year-olds are too big for one thing and not big enough for another.   Too old for one thing, but not old enough for another.  At 11, I was too big for kids clothes, but had no desire to wear small women's-sized clothes just yet.   And I shudder to think what would have happened if this sexy costume trend had been around then. When I was that age,  I wore a homemade Miss Piggy costume.  

And the Playboy Racy Referee costume was only the latest that her mother had vetoed one pre-Halloween-crazed afternoon at Party City in Baileys Crossroads as too skimpy, too revealing, too suggestive . .....

No referee outfits other than the Playboy one were available?  But then again, if others were available, they probably would have been sexy ones as well.  

.....Cheryl Cirenza shook her head in exasperated disbelief. "This is all so inappropriate. It's really disturbing," she said, eyeing a wall of such girl and preteen costumes as Major Flirt in army green, the bellybutton-baring Devilicious and a sassy, miniskirted French Maid, pink feather duster included. She'd just turned down her 13-year-old daughter's request for a Sexy Cop outfit. "When I was their age, I was a bunch of grapes."

Ha, she needs to see this costume!   

Something from the Washington Post article that has always bothered me:

When it comes to Halloween costumes, boys can still be ninjas, doctors and mad scientists. A box of popcorn, even. Men can still be bananas or beer cans. ....

I always thought food, beverage, inatimate objects and various humorous costumes were designed for both genders!  A girl I used to work with even came as a banana two years ago, when the above article was written!  Apparently people think that these are now for men only.   But I see no reason for that. All of you women out there who've been bothered by the lack options other than "sexy this-or-that" did you ever consider this: If I went into a store and bough a banana or beer can, would someone tell me I can't wear those because I'm a  woman? Would they tell me to get a  "sexy___" instead?  If I want to do this ever, I will!  If a man can humorously put on a dress, then there is no reason a woman can't wear a beer can costume.  

At least most people believe the tourist costume is a unisex one.  Almost ever site that sells this one has both a man and woman modelling it, with the woman on the left side of the photo:

  

(More on unisex and gender stereotypes in costumes in another blog entry later.)  

"Youth isn't being lived through anymore. It's being rushed through," Stephanie Terrazas, 20, said as she watched her 11-year-old sister pick out a "deluxe" sequined Dorothy dress that, unlike the chaste, high-necked one in the little girl size, was lower cut and had two strategically placed poofs of fabric.

Megan Smith, 16, perused the costumes at Party City with her father, Dan. She first tried on the Prisoner, a slinky spandex number with a little button at the throat and open chest like a '70s disco halter dress. She settled on Raggedy Ann, a blue mini dress so mini that the lacy underskirt barely dusts the bottom of the fanny.

See how short and sexy these things can be?  And once-innocent characters such Raggedy Ann, Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood and Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" become "sluttified" as many have called it.  

No one does scary costumes anymore, Megan said. Blame that on the teen movie "Mean Girls," she said, quoting a line verbatim: "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it."

Think witches can't be sexy? Think again.  Almost everything for girls is either "pretty or sexy and even itches and vampires are often 'pretty-princess-ed' up."

And when Lindsey Lohan's character goes as some Bride of Frankenstein knockoff to a party, the other girls who are wearing lingerie and animal ears ask her why's she dressed so scary. She replies that "It's Halloween."  Yeah, why does no one do scary costumes anymore, but still put up scary decorations and displays and play scary sound effects? 

Another article on sexy costumes for young girls stated the following:

Dana and I were searching online for a Halloween witch costume for Emmeline, and we noticed that while boys have a lot of simple, innocent options -- cop, fireman, astronaut, Rosie O'Donnell -- girls, even very young girls, are left with slightly more disturbing options.

Witch slut. Witch whore. Baby witch cheerleader slut. From hell. Who dresses their kids in this crap?

...It got worse as the girl costumes got older, as if every year in a girl's life means another inch of skirt above the knee.

And it had me wondering.

"Would anyone ever sell a Chippendale outfit for young boys? Would a parent ever buy one?"

Of course not.  

Um, maybe they don't sell them, but take a look at this.

In this op-ed piece from the New York Times in 2006, the author stated the following:

I noticed that on the outside of every package was a photo of a woman modeling not only the costume, but teetering heels and bras of the push-up variety. The First Lady costume was not, as one might expect, a red business suit, but a pink crepe mini-dress. At least it had the matching pillbox hat. The angel was dubbed “heaven’s hottie.” Even the witch had a slit up her tattered skirt.

My girls were confused. “Where are the monsters?” they asked. “Where are the superheroes?” I pointed weakly to Wonder Woman and her thigh-high boots. “She’s pretty,” said my 4-year-old. Before adding, “You can see her breasts."

See how long this has been going on? 

A series of costumes for the Seven Deadly Sins was released last year and while you'd think only the one representing Lust would be sexy, think again.  Sloth contains midriff-bearing pajamas with slits in the legs.  And Greed seems to be showing more midriff than monetary desire.   Does anyone Envy this midriff-bearing person?  Pride has a short skirt with corset-like laces.  Shouldn't Gluttony be fat and not sexy? And Wrath bears the midriff as well?  Last year I did the Seven Deadly Sins (all of them at once) and the only sexy part was Lust, naturally, represented by fishnet stockings and lacy garters.  

Someone wrote the following in response to this blog entry:

I have noticed the lack of appropriate costumes for women, so now I always make my costumes. And "making a costume" doesn't have to involve any sewing or hard work! I would definitely suggest shopping for halloween costume clothes at a thrift store. Last year my boyfriend and I went as Jack & Jill (after falling down the hill). I just wore a long skirt, tights, a sweater, a sign that said "Jill" and I carried a "pail of water" that was actually full of candy! We also added some fake gashes and stuff using wax & latex! Then we went to a party full of "sexy ___" and everyone was so jealous of my costume! Especially the fake wounds! And the fact that I wasn't freezing my butt off!!! This year we are going as Rachel Maddow & Keith Olbermann from msnbc.

Yeah, to those who were complaining about freezing their butts off, it should be obvious why that was happening!  

This is only scratching the surface of what I want to say on this topic. There's so much more to say about all this.  Not only sexiness, but gender stereotypes, which I plan to rant about in another post later. 

Pumpkin Spice Costume

I ordered this costume  from Buycostumes.com with a $25 coupon I earned from participating in their discussion community (see the website).   I placed my order last Wednesday and it arrived today via  the USPS.  It was on my doorstep after I got home from a long day (long story).  I'd suspected it would arrive when I wasn't home since my work schedule varies.  I'd been afraid it might not fit, so I tried it on as soon as I could and  it fit all right.  I just need to know how to keep my really long hair under the wig!  The boot covers were  a little difficult to pull over my shoes.   The gloves and the fishnets in the photo are not included.

 

I wasn't sure whether to get this or the Fruity Licious Candy Corn costume.  Both looked like fun.  The Fruity Licious Strawberry one, however, looked OK, but I wasn't really into the idea of getting that one.   

What Unique Costume Should You Wear?

No, I would never even think of this!

Your Unique Costume is Jeeves the Headless Butler

Off with your head!

What Totally Unique Halloween Costume Should You Wear?